Most Events Are Online/Virtual DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Brad Stone, with Nick Bilton, & Amazon Unbound via Live Talks LA – Online Event
Author and Bloomberg News writer Brad Stone, in conversation with Nick Bilton, will discuss his new book, Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire.
Amazon Unbound is an unvarnished picture of Amazon’s unprecedented growth, and its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, revealing the most important business story of our time. Brad Stone is also the author of The Everything Store, Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon and The upstarts: Uber, Airbnb, and the Battle for the New Silicon Valley.
Almost ten years ago the author captured the rise of Amazon, an internet pioneer quietly changing the way we shop online. Ever since, Amazon has expanded exponentially, inventing novel products, acquiring and diversifying into new a areas and disrupting countless industries while its valuation has soared to over a trillion dollars, with an empire that spans the globe. This book also probes the evolution of Bezos himself, an unvarnished portrait of a man and company we couldn’t imagine modern life without.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this ticketed event.
Where: LiveTalks LA – Online event
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/brad-stone-with-nick-bilton/
Anna Sale, with Heather Havrilesky, & Let’s Talk about Hard Things via Vroman’s – Online Event
Anna Sale, in conversation with Heather Havrilsky,will present and discuss her book. Let’s Talk About Hard Things.
Author and podcast founder Anna Sale’s new book discusses how to have the most difficult conversation and topics that most of us are too squeamish, polite, or nervous to bring up. But by not talking to one another, we cut ourselves off, leading us to feel isolated and disconnected from those who can help us most.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Vroman’s Books – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/anna-sale
Lilly Dancyger, with Erin Khar, & Negative Space via Skylight Books – Crowdast Online
Join us to hear author Lilly Dancyger, in conversation with Erin Khar, discuss her new memoir, Negative Space.
Despite her parents’ struggles with addiction, Lily Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal instability around the edges? As an adult, the author began to question the mythology she’d created about her father, the brilliant sculptor and artist, struck down during his prime. So she decided to seek out the characters from his world to help her decode the language of her father’s work to find the truth of who he really was, Sher writes of her own anger, grief, and artistic inheritance as she tries to illuminate the darkness her father hid from her, as well as her own.
NOTE: This is a ticked event so check site for details.
Where: Skylight Books – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online event
Robert C. Ritchie, with Darry Holter, & The Lure of the Beach via Chevalier’s Books – Online Event
Author Robert C. Ritchie, in conversation with Darryl Holter, will discuss his book, The Lure of the Beach: A Global History, and whether as a commodified pastoral destination,, a site of resplendency, or a flashpoint between public access and private ownership, the history of the beach is a human one that deserves to be told now more than ever before.
This is a chronicle of humanity’s history with the coast, and the material and social economies of the beach throughout time. As climate change and rising sea levels erode familiar faces of our coast, we are poised for a contemporary reckoning with our relationship—and responsibilities—to our beaches and their ecosystems.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Zoom event
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com//robert-ritchie
Monday Night Fiction Workshop at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
The free Monday Night Fiction Workshop led by Raquel Baker is a community writing workshop in which participants are asked to bring copies of 2-3 pages of fiction to read, and for critique and discussion. Registration is required.
Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing form Mills College. She is currently Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Studies and Transnational Literatures at CSU Channel Islands. She also has published poetry and non-fiction, and done readings with the Ventura Poetry Project.
Where: Beyond Baroque online (tickets at Eventbrite)
Date: Monday the 17th
Time: 7:30pm – 10 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: https://beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
Ayanna Thompson, with Natalie Hopkinson, & blackface via Skylight Books – Online Event
Join us to hear author Ayanna Thompson, in conversation with Natalie Hopkinson, to hear them discuss her new book, blackface. This event is part of Object Lessons, a partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
This book explains what blackface is, why it occurred, and what its legacies are in the 21st Century. There is a filthy and vile thread — that sometimes is tied to a noose—that connects the first performances of Blackness on the English stages, the birth of blackface minstrelsy, contemporary performances of blackness, and anti-Black racism. Blackface examines that history and provides hope for a future with new performance paradigms.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore & Malaprops – Online
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online Event
Race, Identity & Alienation in the American Novel: Invisible Man Group Discussion #4 via the Hammer Museum – Online Event
The Hammer Museum is offering a series of programs celebrating the literary, cultural, and social legacies of Ralph Ellison’s groundbreaking work, Invisible Man. Explore this classic American novel in the fourth and final group discussion.
Mona Simpson, novelist and Some Favorite Writers host, joins author Danielle Evens andUCLA professor Adam Bradley, biographer of the forthcoming annotated edition of the novel for this discussion of race, identity and alienation. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, has continuing—even surging—relevance today.
NOTE: Reservations required for this ticketed event at Eventbrite site.
Where: Hammer Museum – Online (see site)
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2021/race-identity-alienation-american-novel
The Literary Submission Process Workshop with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo at Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
An Intensive Workshop on The Literary Submission Process will be offered for six weeks and led by poet and author Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo.
Participants will gain understanding and practice for the literary submission process, including how to select poems and open calls, how to write cover letters, and how to keep track of submissions once sent. They will also ready a small packet of poems in order to ready them for submission, and also strategize for the future.
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). She is a member of Miresa Collective and director of Women Who Submit.
NOTE: See link for costs, registration and details.
Where: Beyond Baroque online (tickets at Eventbrite)
Date: Tuesday the 18th (through June 22)
Time: 6pm – 8 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: http://beyondbaroque.org/intensive_workshops.html or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-literary-submission-process-with-xochitl-julisa-bermejo-tickets-147907680855
Ben H. Winters, with Kira Jane Buxton, & The Quiet Boy via Book Soup – Online Event
Ben H. Winters, in conversation with Kira Jane Buxton, will present and discuss his book, The Quiet Boy.
Author Ben H. Winter’s new novel is set in 2008, when a cheerful ambulance-chasing lawyer persuades a grieving family to sue a private LA hospital for the botched surgery on their son. eleven years later, the lawyer is still in practice, but a shell of his former self—and is hired to defend the now young adult’s father who has been charged with the murder of the expert witness in the hospital case. This is two thrilling trial stories braided together into one big read.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Book Soup – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Where: Online event
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/ben-h-winters-discusses-quiet-boy
Sarah Dass, with Maika & Maritza Moulite, & Where the Rhythm Takes You via Vroman’s Books – Online Event
Author Sarah Dass, in conversation with Maika & Maritza Moulite, will present and discuss her new book, Where the Rhythm Takes You.
Inspired by Jane Austin’s Persuasion, this is a romantic, mesmerizing novel of first love and second chances. Seventeen-year-old Reyna has spent most of her life in Plumeria, her family’s gorgeous estate in Tobago, but her many recent losses tempt her to move on. The Aiden comes roaring back into her life—as a VIP guest at the local resort. Aiden is part of the hottest musical group, and has returned to find her exactly where he left her.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Sesschu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo, with Janet Sarbanes, & ELADATL via Skylight Books – Online Event
Join us to hear authors Sesschu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo, in conversation with Janet Sarbanes, to hear them discuss their new book, ELADAT: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines (City Light Books).
This book is a breathtaking free fall into the long-buried (and fictional) history of a utopian era in American lighter-than-air travel, as told by its death-defying aero-acrobatic heroes, The story is told in a series of overlapping narratives told by key figures, accompanied by photos and artifacts, plus appendices, written and presented as “actual history of a fictional company.” It’s a hilarious send-up of academia and traditional notions of the time-space continuum.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event
AfroFuturism Book Club with Tyree Boyd-Pates & Wings of Ebony via The Last Bookstore – Zoom Online
The AfroFuturism Book Club led by Tyree Boyd-Pates reads and discusses a vast and forward-looking movement with solid roots in the past. The literature spans art, music, theory—but primarily we read new fiction.
This month’s book selection, J Elle’s Wings of Ebony, is a YA debut fantasy novel about a Black teen from Houston who learns about her godly ancestry and must save both the human and god worlds. Rue goes back to Houston to discover Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. Her sister Tasha is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that killed her mother.
NOTE: All Last Bookstore events are ticketed, so check site for details.
Where: The Last Bookstore – Zoom online (see site)
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Zoom Online
Website: https://www.lastbookstorela.com/event-details/the-afrofuturism-book-club-with-tyree-boyd-pates-5
Tuesdays at the Virtual Cobalt: Poets Series Presents: Judith Camann & Open Reading – Virtual Zoom Event
The Virtual Cobalt Poets Series, presented by Rick Lupert via Zoom, will feature poet Judith Camann, plus an open reading.
Judith Camann is a poet, fiber artist, and education specialist living in Seattle Washington. She co-founded the writing groups Overcoming oranges and Parents Are Writers Too. Her work has been featured by Eyedrum Periodically, Main Street Rag and Weasel Press.
NOTE: Details and Zoom link at event link.
Where: Cobalt Poets – Online Zoom Event
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic at Greenway Court Theatre Is Now Virtual – Online
DPL events at the Greenway Court Theatre are postponed until further notice.
But some events are offered via livestream, so check the calendar for information on events offered via the wonderly app link.
We have an open mic every Tuesday night except for the third Tuesday, when we have a poetry slam. There is a sign-up procedure and a three-minute time limit per performer. The event is open to all ages.
Where: Online event
Date: Tuesday the 18th
Time: 9 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://dapoetrylounge.com/calendar (Check site to confirm date)
Middle Grade Book Club & Ending #2: The First via Pages Bookstore – Online Kids Event
Join us for Middle Grade Book Club and a discussion of the new novel by Katherine Applegate, Ending #2: The First, illustrated by Max Costenko.
This is the second book in an epic middle grade animal fantasy series, a trilogy by the Newbery Medal-winning author. Byx and her friends travel to the country of Dreyland to uncover the truth behind the legend of a hidden daime colony, during a time of increasing threats of war across the lands. Soon they find themselves unlikely leaders in a simmering rebellion that risks everything they hold dear.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Pages Bookstore – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 4:30 am
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/middle-grade-book-club-virtual-meeting-11
Vincent D’Onofrio & Mutha: Stuff & Things via Book Soup – Online Crowdcast Event
Join us to hear author and legendary actor Vincent D’Onofrio present and discuss his new collection of irreverent and poetic short work, Mutha: Stuff & Things.
In this book actor and author Vincent D’Onofrio offers not a story woven around plot and contrivance, but what his mind produces while on idle, when he is not thinking about servicing a story. His thoughts and images are humorous, honest, abundant, raw, and unfiltered. And all are exceedingly enjoyable.
NOTE: See site to RSVP and for event details.
Where: Book Soup – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 12th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event
Scripps Presents: Allison Bechdel, with Ann Friedman, & The Secret to Superhuman Strength via Skylight Books – Online Event
Join us to hear author Allison Bechdel, in conversation with Ann Friedman (Call Your Girlfriend), to hear them discuss her new book, The Secret to Superhuman Strength.
This graphic novel, from the godmother of the graphic memoir, is the latest form the author of Fun Home. Tackling topics form identity to transcendentalism to fitness of both the mental and physical varieties, the author explores it all with her signature self-deprecating humor.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore & Scripps Presents – Online
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 5 pm
Address: Online Event
Love and Language: Keiichiro Hirano & Juliet Winters Carpenter via PEN America & The Japan Foundation– Online Event
Join us for Love and Language, and event featuring the newest work from bestselling author Keiichiro Hirano, titled At the End of the Matinee.
Hirano will present a talk on video about the importance and resilience of love in bridging cultural divides, styled after his TED Talk. Then he will be joined by translator Juliet Winters Carpenter, to discuss their shared journey to bring this sweeping love story to English readers. The conversation will be moderated by Allison Markin Powell, award-winning translator and member of PEN America.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles – Online event
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 5:30 am
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/216588443233474
An Evening with Michael Lewis & The Premonition via Live Talks LA – Zoom Online
Join LiveTalks Los Angeles to hear author and podcast host, and Bloomberg columnist Michael Lewis celebrate the release of his new book, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.
Bestselling author Michael Lewis brings us a ‘Superhero Story’ about the pandemic, and take son a frightening sotry: how to prevent a viral outbreak even worse than Covid-19. The characters you will meet in this story are as fascinating as they are unexpected, and run a wide gamut of Americans, from young adults to local public health officers to world class labs and scientists—all without permission to implement their work. Lewis calls these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives they knew to be based on misinformation and bad science.
NOTE: This is a ticked event so check site for details.
Where: LiveTalks LA -Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm PST
Address: Online event
Website: https://livetalksla.org/events/micael-lewis/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/3785362968165558
WeHo Reads: Alternative Futures: The Importance of Seeing Yourself in Young Adult (YA) Literature via WeHo Reads 2021 – Online Event
WeHo Reads hosts a reading and conversation on Young adult Literature, featuring authors:
James Sie is the author of All Kinds of Other.
Skylar Kergil is the author of Before I Had the Words.
Jiaquing Wilson-Yang is our musical guest, whose first novel, Small Beauty, won the 2017 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction.
These authors will go beyond the concept of representation in Hollywood to focus on the creative process for this craft talk and conversation.
NOTE: See site to RSVP and for event details.
Where: WeHo Reads, City of West Hollywood – Online Event
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1177284596021992 or https://www.weho.org/community/arts-and-culture/weho-reads
Elizabeth Nyamayaro & I Am a Girl From Africa via Vroman’s Books – Online Event
Author Elizabeth Nyamayaro will present and discuss her memoir, I Am a Girl From Africa..
This is the inspiring journey of a girl from Africa whose near-death experience sparked a dream that changed the world. When severe drought hit her village in Zombabwe, Elizabeth was a starving child, saved by food given her by a UN worker, and this transformative moment led her to become a humanitarian. Grounded by the African concept of Ubuntu—“ am because we are”—Elizabeth was guided in her quest and eventually became a Senior advisor at the UN and launched HeforShe, one of the world’s largest global solidarity movements for gender equality.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-live-elizabeth-nyamayaro-discusses-i-am-girl-africa
Carribean Fragoza, with Myriam Gurba, & Eat the Mouth That Feeds You via Skylight Books – Online Event
Join us to hear author Carribean Fragoza, in conversation with Myriam Gurba, to hear them discuss her new book of stories, Eat the Mouth That Feed You (City Lights Books).
This stunningly original collection illuminates a spectrum of Latinx, Chacanx, and immigrant women’s voices, in confrontation with fraught matrilineal lines, absent or abusive fathers, and the effects of historical violence. Here they navigate a male –dominated world where they rely on a resilient mujer network to get them through sometimes supernatural obstacles.
The author is founder of South El Monte Arts Posse, an arts collective, and her works have been published in numerous publications. She is founder of Vicious Ladies, a new website publishing women, queer, and non-binary critics of color, and she co-edits the cultural journal BOOM California. She is also Coordinator of the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award at Claremont Graduate University.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Noah Isenberg, with Irwin Winkler, & Billy Wilder on Assignment via Chevalier’s Books – Online Event
Author and translator Noah Isenberg, in conversation with Irwin Winkler, will present and discuss his new book, Billy Wilder on Assignment
Author and editor Noah Isenberg’s new book brings together Wilder’s early writings—a heady mix of cultural essays, interviews, and reviews—with the same with and intelligence as his later screenplays. He works as a freelance reporter, first in Vienna, then in Weimar Berlin. This collection offers fresh insights intone of Hollywood’s most revered writer-directors.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Zoom event
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/noah-isenberg
Anansi Virtual Writers Workshop via The World Stage – Online Event
Join this weekly community workshop founded in 1990, and following a three-part format, by joining in via Zoom every Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.
In its 30th year, the Anansi Writers Workshop is a workshop and open mic performance featuring L.A.’s freshest, most inspiring voices speaking their truth in poetry and prose.
Suggested: $5.00 Donation via PayPal: The World Stage Gallery. Check website for Zoom link.
NOTE: See site for further details, and any change in the schedule due to holidays. Contact kaliflowers@gmial.com or call (323) 293-2451
Where: Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.theworldstage.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/AnansiVirtual Workshop/ (Check site to confirm date)
Feminist Book Club & Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America via The Last Bookstore – Zoom Online
The Feminist Book Club, led by Julia Cameron, reads an intersectional variety of feminist literature and offers fresh insights, perspectives, challenges, and connection.
This month’s selection is Ijeoma Oluo’s book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. From the author of the bestseller, So You Want to Talk About Race, This is a subversive history of white male American identity.
NOTE: See site for further details, as all events are ticketed.
Where: Online event – Zoom
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.lastbookstorela.com/event-details/feminist-book-club-with-julia-callahan-4
Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop via Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
Join Beyond Baroque’s longest running free poetry workshop via Zoom online as we welcome new and seasoned poets to share their work and provide feedback. Facilitators are rotated quarterly, and the current facilitator is Luivette Resto.
Luivettte Resto is a mother, teacher, and poet, and the author of two collections: Unfinished Portrait and Ascension, both published by Tia Chucha Press. Her third book is forthcoming from FlowerSong Press.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/free_workshops.html
The Ugly Mug Open Mic & Neil McCarthy Reading via Two Idiots Peddling Poetry – Zoom Online
Two Idiots Peddling Poetry and host Ben Trigg presents weekly poetry readings at the Ugly Mug and the events are now virtual.
This week’s feature is Neil McCarthy, an Irish poet whose work has appeared in dozens of international journals and anthologies, in print and online. He graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and has featured as a guest speaker in literary festivals and events around the world. He now lives in Vienna, where he teaches English.
You can join in at the Zoom event via link provided, and sign up to read via Google Sheets at site.
NOTE: See site for further details.
Where: Online Zoom event (see site)
Date: Wednesday the 19th
Time: 8 pm – 10 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/two-idiots-peddling-poetry
Stuart Gibbs & Bear Bottom via Children’s Book World – Online Kids Event
Join us to meet bestselling children’s author Stuart Gibbs for a book talk celebrating his newest book in his FunJungle series, Bear Bottom.
Bear Bottom is the seventh book in the FunJungle series. In this book Teddy Fitzroy returns as resident sleuth to solve the disappearances of endangered bison and an irreplaceable necklace.
You may sign up as an individual or as a class or school to attend with a book pre-purchase.
NOTE: See site for further details, registration, and information.
Where: Online event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 10 am – 10:45 am
Address: Online event
PEN America World Voices Festival: George Saunders & Matthew Salesses, with Rivka Galchen,via Skylight Books – Online Event
The PEN America World Voices Festival presents the program: The Master’s Tools: On the Art of Writing with George Saunders & Matthew Salesses, with moderator Rivka Galchen,
George Saunders is the author of nine books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Man Booker Prize, and the story collections Pastoralia and Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches at Syracuse University.
Matthew Salesses is the author of three novels, Disappear Doppleganger Disappear, The Hundred Year Flood, I’m Not Saying, I’m Just Saying and the essay collection, Craft in the Real World. He was adopted from Korea and currently lives in Iowa.
Rivka Galchen is a fiction writer and essayist, and writes for The New Yorker, whose editors selected her for their list of “20 Under 40” American Fiction Writers in 2010.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 4 pm PST
Address: Online Event
Scripps Presents: Maps for the Modern World: Valerie June with Glory Edimvia Skylight Books – Online Event
The Scripps Presents Series hosts a program featuring the poetry collection, Maps for the Modern World, and a conversation between author Valerie June Hackett and Well Read Black Girl’s Glory Edim.
Valerie June’s voice has been described as versatile, radiant, elastic, and spirited, and it is unanimous that she is in possession of a singular sound. Her latest album the Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers was released in March to rave reviews, and now she turns her prowess to poetry. Her debut collection, Maps for the Modern World, is imbued with a kind of magic
Glory Edim is a writer, author, and founder of Well Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 5:30 pm PST
Address: Online Event
Daniel James Brown, with Tom Ikeda, & Facing the Mountain via ALOUD Reading Series – Online Event
Join us to hear author Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat, in conversation with Tom Ikeda, present and discuss his new book, Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.
This book follows a special Japanese American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe, and the story uncovers the journey of four Japanese American families and their sons, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Tis inspiring story of patriotism and courage illuminates an overlooked history of America at war.
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: ALOUD Reading Series – Online
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://lfla.org/event/facing-the-mountain-a-true-story-of-japanese-american-heroes-in-world-war-ii/
A Conversation with Steph Cha & Your House Will Pay via LAPL – Zoom Online
Join a LAPL Book to Action event to hear local author Steph Cha, in conversation with a panel of Asian American leaders, to discuss her recent novel Your House Will Pay, a riveting thriller confronting the legacy of the Los Angeles 1992 racial unrest.
Those attending this event, streaming live on FB of YouTube, will have the opportunity to win a free book. Panelists include:
Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and California Book Award, and author of the Juniper Song crime trilogy, among others.
Sandy Lee Schaupp is a 1.8 generation Korean American woman who is passionate about racial justice and reconciliation. She founded and currently leads the Multiethnic Learning Community at Christian Assembly Church in Eagle Rock.
Reverend Dr. Kevin Blue is head of the Church of the Redeemer in south Los Angeles and serves as member of Servant Partners, a Christian agency working for justice in communities in need.
Emile Mack is the Executive VP of the Korean American Foundation of Los Angeles. He served in the LA Fire Department, and rose to Chief Deputy, second in command. Korean born, he was raised by an African American family in South Los Angeles.
NOTE: This is a ticked event so check site for details.
Where: LAPL & Felipe de Neve Branch Library – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Rita Dove & Tracy K. Smith: Poetry at the Crossroads via The Broad Stage – Online Event
Rita Dove and Tracy K. Smith are two of the most important poets of our time. The former Poets Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners will discuss the future of American poetry and read selections from their work. Moderator Amber Flame will guide the conversation of these two artists and will guide our imaginations.
Rita Dove won the Pulitzer Prize for her third book of poetry, Thomas and Beulah, in 1987 and was Poet Laureate from 1993-95. She received the National Humanities Medal of Arts from President Clinton and the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. She teaches at the University of Virginia
Tracy K. Smith received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her third book of poems, Life on Mars. This book was a New York Times Notable Book, as well as an Editor’s Choice, and was selected Best Book of the Year by New Yorker, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.
NOTE: See site for costs and details. Pay what you wish; $10 and up.
Where: The Broad stage – Online event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Where: Online event
Website: https://thebroadstage.secure.force.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F5G00000L0d2vUAB
Jonathan Park-Ramage, with Sam Lansky, & Yes, Daddy via Book Soup – Online Event
Jonathan Park-Ramage, in conversation with Sam Lansky, will present and discuss his book, Yes, Daddy.
Author Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s new novel is an exploration of class, power dynamics, and the nuances of victimhood and complicity. When a passionate affair with a glamorous prize-winning playwright a young writer escalates into a retreat to an estate where some they and some close gay artist friends and staff sport obvious and ugly bruises, a sinister underlay begins to emerge. this sets in motion a decisive revenge.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for th is free event.
Where: Book Soup – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Where: Online event
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/jonathan-parks-ramage-conversation-sam-lansky-discusses-yes-daddy
Stephanie Danler & J. Courtney Sullivan Discuss: Stray & Friends and Strangers via Pages Bookstore – Online Event
Stephanie Danler, in conversation with J. Courtney Sullivan, will present and discuss their latest books, Stray and Friends and Strangers, respectively.
Author Stephanie Danler’s latest book, Stray, which is an exploration of the landscapes of damage and survival that pulled her home to Southern California after the success of her first novel, Sweetbitter. She confronts her abandoned and difficult past: a mother disabled by years of alcoholism and a brain aneurism; a father who abandoned the family when she was three, now a meth addict in and out of recovery. Here she examines whether it’s possible to change the course of her history.
J. Courtney Sullivan’s latest book, Friends and Strangers, is a gorgeous, compulsively readable novel that tells the story of two women: Elisabeth, a privileged new mother and writer trying to find her foothold after childbirth, and Sam, an idealistic, working class college student she hires to care for her young son.
NOTE: See site for details.
Where: Pages Bookstore – Online event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Where: Online event
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/danler-sullivan
Tim S. Grover & Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness via Vroman’s Books – Online Event
Author Tim S. Grover will present and discuss his new book, Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness.
This book form the elite performance coach who authored Relentless, offers a brutally honest formula for winning in business, sports, or any arena where the battle is fiercely unforgiving.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for this free event.
Where: Vroman’s Bookstore – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6 pm
Address: Online event
Be the Change Series: Paula Yoo & From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry via Glendale Library – Online Event
Please join our Be the Change Series for a virtual discussion with author Paula Yoo, who will present and discuss her book, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement.
This is a compelling account of the killing of Vincent Chin, the verdicts that took the Asian community to the streets in protest, and the groundbreaking civil rights trial that followed. Paula Yoo is an award-winning book author, TV writer/produce, and feature screen writer, with credits ranging from NBC’s The West Wing to CW’s Super Girl.
NOTE: See website link for details.
Where: Glendale Library & Once Upon a Time Books – Online event (see site)
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.shoponceuponatime.com/event/be-change-series-whisper-rallying-cry-paula-yoo
Witches of the Apocalypse Group Readingvia Skylight Books – Online Event
Join us to hear six women authors who may not have witch-like powers, but who have seen and have something to say about all kinds of ends of the worlds.
Jean Given is a Mexican American poet and novelist, and is the author of Trinity Sight and Jubilee She grew up in the Imperial Valley and her family has ancestral ties to the indigenous peoples of New Mexico.
Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Her book, Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.
Devon A. Mihesuah is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and is Cora Lee Beers Price Professor at the University of Kansas and former editor of The American Indian Quarterly. She is the author of numerous books, including: Ned Christie, Choctaw Crime and Punishment, Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens, and the novels Roads of My Relations and Document of Expectations.
Kathryn Nuernberger’s latest book is The Witch of Eye, which is about witches and witch trials. She is also the author of the poetry collections RUE, The End of Pink and Rag & Bone, as well as a collection of lyric essays, Brief Encounters with the Romantic Past. She teaches at the University of Minnesota.
Alison Stine is the author of the novel, Road Out of Winter, a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award, among others. Her other books and chapbook include three poetry collections, most recently Wait, winner of the Brittingham Prize. Her next novel, Trashlands, will be released in October 2021.
Nicole Walker is the author of the forthcoming book, Processed Meats: Essays on Food, Flesh, and Navigating Disaster, as well as several other books. Her essays have been noted in the Best American Series. She teaches in the MFA program at Northern Arizona University,
NOTE: See site for tickets and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-witches-apocalypse-group-reading
William J. Bauer Jr. & Damon B. Akins & We Are the Land via Chevalier’s Bookstore – Virtual Event
Authors William J. Bauer Jr. & Damon B. Akins will discuss their book, We Are The Land.
This book recounts the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood—paying particular attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late 2oth and early 21st centuries. This is the first and most comprehensive text of its kind and is designed to fill the glaring need for an accessible overview of California Indian history
NOTE: Details, registration and event link available at website.
Where: Chevalier’s Bookstore – Online Event
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 7 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/wearetheland
True Crime Book Club & Last Call via The Last Bookstore – Zoom Online
The True Crime Book Club, led by James Bartlett, reads a variety of crime fiction and explores our dark side.
This month’s selection is Tim Powers’ fantasy novel, Last Call. It is the first book in a loose trilogy called Fault Lines, and features a detailed magic system which draws on mythical or historical events and characters.
NOTE: See site for further details, as all events are ticketed.
Where: Online event – Zoom
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.lastbookstorela.com/event-details/true-crime-book-club-with-james-bartlett-2
Sabor y Cultura: fos_thursdays Open Mic– Instagram Event
Please enjoy the Sabor y Cultura Open Mic on Instagram Live on Thursdays at 8pm PST.
This is an Instagram online event.
NOTE: Sign-ups open on Wednesday at 3 pm.
Where: Online event (see site)
Date: Thursday the 20th
Time: 8 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/fos_thursdays/
Story Time with a Museum Educator via Natural History Museum of L.A. County – Facebook Online Kids Event
Please enjoy a family event from the L.A. County Natural History, which hosts a Museum Educator reading event for the little ones, to share a brand new story in a live reading of favorite books, every Friday morning!
This is a Facebook online event.
NOTE: See website link for details.
Where: Online event (see site)
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 11 am – 11:30 am
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/161693262541092
Your Author Series: Kelly Gilbert & Your House Will Pay via LAPL – Online YA Event
Join a LAPL Your Author Series event to hear award-winning author Kelly Gilbert talk about her latest book, When We Were Infinite. Her first book was published in 2015, and prior to that her work had appeared in Kenyon Review and the San Jose Mercury News.
Those attending this event, streaming live on FB or YouTube, will have the opportunity to win a free book.
NOTE: Check site for details.
Where: LAPL – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/your-author-series-kelly-gilbert
Aminder Dhaliwal, with Maia Kobabe, & CYCLOPEDIA EXOTICA via Skylight Books – Online Event
Graphic novel author Aminder Dahliwal, in discussion with author Maia Kobabe, will present her new graphic novel, CYCLOPEDIA EXOTICA.
Following the success of Woman World, the author returns with a book featuring a parallel universe of cyclops, thorough which she comments on race, difference, beauty and belonging, touching on all of these issues with her distinctive deadpan humor steeped in millennial references and hilarious candor.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 6 pm PST
Address: Online Event
The Return of SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music – In-Person Event
Join us every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month for the Return of SWAAM Spoken Word, Art & Music, featuring a plethora of artistic, eclectic and creative individuals, with an Open Mic, Live Bands, Food & Drinks.
Experience the passion of these poets!
Where: The Creative House– In-Person event (see details at website link)
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 8 pm
Address: 122 N. Market St., Inglewood, CA 90301 (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/swaampoetry/
Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Poetry Open Mic with Elena Secota – Virtual Event
The Third Fridays Rapp Saloon Open Mic events have been curated by Elena Secota, and are now offered virtually.
This month our event features poet, artist and photographer Linda Ibbotson. She is the author of the book 22 Wagons, and her work has been published into many languages and published in journals, anthologies and newspapers worldwide.
NOTE: See website link for details. Zoom details will be sent when you RSVP.
Where: Third Fridays Rapp Saloon (online)
Date: Friday the 21st
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Address: Virtual event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/therappsaloonpoetryreading/
Creative Writing Workshop via LAwritersgroup.com – Online Event
Get words on the page and meet other writers in this online creative writing workshop.
NOTE: See website for online link and further details. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Where: Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1256929548015818/
Get Lit Saturday Class via Get Lit – Words Ignite – Online Teen Event
Join the Get Lit Saturday Class, a weekly poetry workshop that is free and open to all teens!
Learn writing techniques, performance training, and confidence-building every Saturday morning, via Zoom. This is a FREE writing technique, performance training and confidence building workshop for poets of all experience levels, ages 13-19.
NOTE: See website for online link and further details.
Where: Get Lit – Words Ignite – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/670785643795184/
Joshua Coombes, with Paul Avila, & Do Something for Nothing via Book Soup – Online Event
Joshua Coombes, in conversation with Paul Avila, will discuss his book, Do Something for Nothing. In 2015, while working at a London hair salon, the author took to the streets with his scissors to build relationships with people sleeping rough in the capital. This led to him posting transformative images on social media to amplify their voices, and inspired others to do something similar, in their own ways. In this book, readers are taken on a geographical and emotional journey into the lives of those experiencing homelessness in different cities throughout the world.
This book contains photos as well as stories, and a portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to organizations assisting the unsheltered people.
NOTE: See site for details, and to register for th is free event.
Where: Book Soup – Online Crowdcast event
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 12 pm
Where: Online event
Emerging Writers Fellowship via Get Lit – Online Teen Event
Get Lit’s FREE 15-week Emerging Writers Fellowship is an online publishing course held for teens on Saturdays from 1-3pm PST.
The course is designated for youth (ages 13-19) who are interested in creating their own poetry chapbooks, as well as learning more about submission and media marketing. No previous experience necessary! Priority to LA youth but all are welcome.
Contact Raul@getlit.org with any questions.
NOTE: See website for online link and further details.
Where: Get Lit – Words Ignite – Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Address: Online event (see website)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events//418997742646482/
Rosie Stockton, with Hannah Black, & Permanent Volta via Skylight Books – Online Event
Author and poet Rosie Stockton, in discussion with author Hannah Black, will present her debut collection of love poems, Permanent Volta, recipient of the 2019 Sawtooth Prize.
This is a book of love poems that resist subjection and ask how we might live together outside of capitalism, providing for each other through intimate acts of care and struggle.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore – Online
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 2 pm PST
Address: Online Event
Saturday Afternoon Poetry & Print & Internet Publishing Workshop & Reading via Zoom Online
Join Saturday Afternoon Poetry for a Print & Internet Publishing Workshop led by Bobby John Press, featuring COCO, Mark Fisher, Lorelei Kay, Stephanie Logan & Dean Okamura reading from their prize-winning poetic libretttos.
All events are curated by Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Where: Online event (see details at website link)
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 3 pm– 5 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com
Poetry and Prose Night: Scott Noon Creleyvia My Place Café – Online Event
Poet and writer Scott Noon Creley will a reading and discussion of his work.
Scott Noon Creley holds an MFA from CSU Long Beach and a BA from UC Riverside. His work has been featured in Bear Flag Republic, and Night Poetry, as well as in journals such as Sentence, Miramar, Spillways, Cadence Collective and Carnival Literary Magazine. His most recent book debuted in the top 50 in Amazon.com’s poetry section.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: My Place Café – Online (see site)
Date: Saturday the 22nd
Time: 6 pm – 7pm PST
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/787459942145718
Mark Lila & Thea Dorn in conversation & Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man via Skylight Books – Online Event
Author and historian Mark Lila, in discussion with author and publicist Thea Dorn, will present and discuss Thomas Mann’s book, Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man (2018).
In May 2021, New York Review of Books will publish this book as part of their NYRB Classics edition, with an introduction by Mark Lilla This book bears witness to how the bourgeois writer Thomas Mann became a fierce advocate of the German cause and began a checkered life as a political writer.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Skylight Bookstore & Thomas Mann House – Online
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 11 am PST
Address: Online Event
8th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest: Awards Ceremonyvia JANM & Discover Nikkei – Online Event
Join us to hear noted theatre artists (TBA) showcase the winning stories in the annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest. Each year this event heightens awareness of Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo by challenging both new and experienced writers to write a story that captures the spirit and essence of Little Tokyo and the people in it.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Japanese American National Museum (JANM) – Online
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 1 pm PST
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/232891701776464/
La Palabra Poetry Reading Series: Lida Parent Harris, Frankie Hernandez, Vincent Cooper via Avenue 50 Studio – Zoom Online
Join us for the free La Palabra Poetry Readings of 2021, hosted by Angelina Saenz, and offered generally on every fourth Sunday of the month, and today featuring poets: Lida Parent Harris, Frankie Hernandez, Vincent Cooper.
Lida Parent Harris is a writer and poet and a Southern California native who writes about her spirituality and the connections she makes in her own travels and experiences in her life. She is the author of Love and Grace, published in 2015,
Frankie Hernandez is a published writer and TV producer who has been part of the ltierary scene for 25 years. Her screenplay, The Other Side of Pretty, was part of the 2018 Sundance Institute.
Vincent Cooper is a poet and writer, and the author of Where the Reckless Ones Come to Die (Aztlan Libre Press 2014).
Where: Online event: Zoom: 881 0616 8718
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 2 pm – 2:30 pm
Address: Online event
Website: http://avenue50studio.org/event/la-palabra-may-23-2021
Lummis Day Viva Poetry” Erika Ayon & Ramon Garciavia Arroyo Seco Regional Library, LAPL– Online Event
Join us for a delightfully poetic afternoon as the Lummis Day Viva Poetry Library series returns and presents local poets, Erika Ayon and Ramon Garcia.
Erika Ayon emigrated from Mexico when she was five years old and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English and was selected a 2009 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow. She teaches across Los Angeles, and her debut poetry collection, Orange Lady, was published by World Stage Press.
Ramon Garcia is the author of two books of poetry: The Chronicles (Red Hen Press 2015) and Other Countries (What Books Press 2010). He has written a monograph on the artist Richard Valverde, and his work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies.
NOTE: See site for registration and event details.
Where: Arroyo Seco Regional Library, LAPL – Online
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 3 pm PST
Address: Online Event
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/lummis-day-viva-poetry
The Venice Collective: A Poetry Reading via Beyond Baroque – Zoom Online
Join Beyond Baroque for a poetry reading by The Venice Collective, a program of new work since their 2017 anthology, Angle of Refection, featuring:
Dina Hardy, Holaday Mason, Jan Wesley, Jeanette Cough, Jim Natal, Mariano Zaro, Marjorie Becker, Paul Lieber & Sarah McClay.
NOTE: See site for further details, tickets and information.
Where: Beyond Baroque- Online event (Eventbrite)
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 4 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html
Roar Shack Reading Series: Valerie Burns, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, Conney Willliams, Chiwan Choi, Toni Ann Johnson – Zoom Online
Join us for the free Roar Shack Poetry Reading Series, hosted by David Rocklin, and offered generally on the fourth Sunday of the month, and today featuring the amazingly talented poets: Valerie Burns, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, Conney Willliams, Chiwan Choi, Toni Ann Johnson.
Valerie Burns is a poet and writer whose debut novel, The Plot Is Murder, was nominated for the 2017 Agatha Christie Award.
Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera is a writer, Chicana Feminist and former Rodeo Queen. She is a teacher, has a MFA degree form Antioch University, and is now a PhD candidate at USC.
Conney Willliams is a poet and writer, and was the first Artistic Director at The World Stage and facilitator of the Anansi Writers Workshop. He has two collections of poetry, Leaves of Spilled Spirit from an Untamed Poet (2002) and Blues Red Soul Falsetto (2012). His latest book, The Distance of Observation, will be released in April 2021 by World Stage Press. In 2015 he released two CDs of poetry, River & Moan and Unsettled Water. He has curated and hosted poetry events across LA and has been published widely in print media.
Chiwan Choi is a poet, writer, and publisher, author of three full-length books of poetry—The Flood (Tia Chucha Press, 2010), Abductions (Writ Large Press), and The Yellow House (CCM, 2017)—and multiple poetry chapbooks. His new project is his literary paranormal crossover podcast, Are You There, Ghost? It’s Me, Chiwan, where he interviews writers about their work and paranormal experiences. He is a partner in Writ Large Press and a member of The Accomplices.
Toni Ann Johnson is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright who has won the Humanitas Prize for her work. She is the author most recently of the novella Homegoing, winner of the Accents Publishing Inaugural Novella Contest.
Where: Zoom Online Event (see site)
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Address: Online event
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/180876307237252/
The Thing in the Labyrinth Book Club & The Lost Village via The Last Bookstore – Online Zoom Event
The Thing in the Labyrinth Book Club is hosted by Kathryn E. McGee, and is a horror book club.
This month’s selection is The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten. Things go awry when Alice returns to her ancestral village to make a documentary.
NOTE: All bookstore events are ticketed, so check site for details.
Where: The Last Bookstore – Online event
Date: Sunday the 23rd
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: Online event (see site)
Website: https://www.lastbookstorela.com/event-details/the-thing-in-the-labyrinth-horror-book-club-with-kathryn-e-mcgee-5 or https://www.facebook.com/events/867414863989010
Los Angeles Literature 